Automated cordless smoker

Abstract

A system for smoking or grilling food that uses a wood pellet burner to provide the heat and smoke for the smoking/grilling process and wherein all the electrical requirements for the system are provided by a thermoelectric generator that receives thermal energy from the wood pellet burner and converts a portion of that thermal energy into electricity, and wherein a microcontroller is used to accurately regulate the smoking or grilling temperatures and the temperatures of the thermoelectric generator.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A smoker system, comprising:
 a pellet hopper configured to hold pellets and direct the pellets into a burner pot; 
 an ignitor in communication with the pellet hopper and configured to heat the pellets as they are channeled from the pellet hopper to the burner pot; 
 a smoking chamber in gaseous communication with the burner pot, the smoking chamber configured to receive heat and smoke from the burner pot; 
 a heat exchanger in gaseous communication with the heat and smoke from the burner pot; and 
 one or more thermoelectric modules configured to receive thermal energy from the heat exchanger; 
 wherein the one or more thermoelectric modules provide energy to charge a battery; 
 wherein the smoking chamber is configured to receive a food product for cooking via the heat and smoke; and 
 wherein the one or more thermoelectric modules provide enough energy to eliminate the need for alternative power sources. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a burner tube in gaseous communication with the burner pot; 
 an opening from the burner tube and into a heat exchanger tube, the heat exchanger tube housing a heat exchanger; 
 an exhaust manifold in gaseous communication with the burner tube and the heat exchanger tube; and 
 a blower in gaseous communication with the exhaust manifold and configured to receive gasses therefrom; 
 wherein the blower directs gasses and heat into the smoking chamber. 
 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 2 , wherein the battery is used for powering the blower via a programmable controller. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a programmable controller configured to receive user input to maintain a desired temperature within the smoking chamber. 
 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 4 , wherein the programmable controller includes a display configured to display a current temperature and a setpoint temperature. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more thermoelectric modules receive thermal energy from the heat exchanger via one or more pressure pads. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more thermoelectric modules further comprise:
 a hot surface; and 
 a heat sink; 
 wherein heat is removed from the heat sink via a plurality of heat pipes which pass through one or more cooling fins; 
 wherein the cooling fins reject waste heat to ambient air. 
 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the heat sink is centered among the plurality of heat pipes, the plurality of heat pipes passing through the heat sink and then through a plurality of cooling fins. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the hot surface is regulated by a programmable controller that causes hot air to bypass the thermoelectric generator if the temperature of the thermoelectric generator is too high.